WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.310 Hi, Congressman Thomas Massie here with Joel Salatin on his farm, his regenerative farm here at Polyface. We're standing among some of his beautiful cattle and uh we want to talk 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:19.189 about what's been in the news here recently about the executive announcements and how that might impact, you know, farmers here, ranchers in the 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:28.230 United States. U Joel, let's thanks for, you know, doing this with me. >> Thanks for being here. >> Yeah, by the way, these are these are 00:00:28.240 --> 00:00:37.510 beautiful cattle. I would just like to say uh and the fact that they're these aren't getting corn, are they? They're no right here on the grass. >> No, they never get corn. They're just 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:47.670 grass finished. Uh smallerbodied animals are not great big, you know, great big animals, but uh they will fatten up very nicely just on just on forages. 00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:56.229 >> Good good old American beef. >> That's right. Good old American beef. So, uh, let's talk about the announcement of 300,000 00:00:56.239 --> 00:01:05.270 metric tons of beef that's going to come in over 90 days. >> Ground beef. >> Ground beef. That's right. Ground beef product. >> I always get suspicious when they add 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:15.109 product to it. Cheese product, beef product, >> milk product. [laughter] All right. So, we're not sure which country it's from. 00:01:15.119 --> 00:01:23.429 I mean earlier there was a deal with Argentina and there those videos are resurfacing but I don't think they've disclosed which country this is coming from. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:32.710 >> What what do you what's your take on this? >> Well, my take on it is it's certainly a slap in the face to the American beef 00:01:32.720 --> 00:01:42.149 cattle farmer to have below market value flooding into the Americans market. And we can talk about the quantity and the percentages and that stuff later, but 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:53.270 but just the the concept that we're going to suddenly bring in a bunch of below market value beef into the American market. Uh when when beef 00:01:53.280 --> 00:02:02.230 cattle farmers have just literally in the last year finally gotten to where they get a price that actually makes it profitable 00:02:02.240 --> 00:02:11.190 >> and now suddenly, you know, going to kick the kick the legs out. By the way, that profit is a signal to other farmers that you might want to farm, right? 00:02:11.200 --> 00:02:20.070 >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, my my t I mean, my thing is, you know, he um Trump just gave 12 billion dollars to soybean farmers 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:28.550 >> to keep growing soybeans so that I mean, the world's a doesn't need any more soybeans. But given 12 billion dollars to soybean 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:38.630 farmers, what those guys need to do, we need more cows, >> right? Right. So, if you didn't give a $12 billion bailout to the soybean farmers, maybe some of them would say, "hm, maybe maybe I should grow cows 00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:47.670 instead of soybeans." >> And the lease on that acreage wouldn't be as high for a cattleman. >> Absolutely. >> Because it's subsidized and so soybean farmer can pay more for the acres than a 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:56.309 cattleman can. Right. And so so what happens at the bottom line is that you you uh you create a safety net that 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:05.350 protects somebody from the consequences of their ill-advised decisions >> like the world doesn't need any more soybeans. It doesn't want more soybeans. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:13.509 But I demand, you know, it's like a temper tantrum. I demand to be I'm a soybean farmer and you should love me. You know, you should protect me. And and if if the if the government weren't 00:03:13.519 --> 00:03:23.190 putting its heavy foot on the scale, then there would be more uh natural dispers, you know, Adam Smith's invisible hand to the market would would 00:03:23.200 --> 00:03:31.910 would go through the market a little better and they'd start growing something else. But Joel, there's a recent article criticizing me because saying I'm against the free market 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:42.710 because all Trump's doing is getting rid of the tariff here, which was an impediment to the free market. But he's doing more than that, isn't he? Well, yeah. Yeah. It's it's actually a a 00:03:42.720 --> 00:03:51.830 requirement is that it's below market, >> right? What it what at what price is it going to be? >> 25%, right? Below below market value. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:04:01.270 >> So, here we've got American farmers that are finally actually, you know, able to make a profit with the prices because the prices have been extremely low for 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:11.030 several years. you know, no, nobody nobody was coming to help the beef cattle farmer when the price has been below the point of production for six or seven years. Uh, that never entered the 00:04:11.040 --> 00:04:20.069 equation. Now, suddenly, oh, uh, the market's the market's um, uh, uh, too high for the consumer. So let's, you 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:28.550 know, let's um let's put the American farmer on the back burner or or actually uh let's let's do a policy that's prejuditial 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:38.710 >> uh to that uh American farmer to the to the domestic to the domestic production. >> He's also he's also setting the quantity and the time period which interestingly 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:47.350 ends in November >> midterms. Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I think it's simply because I think the whole thing uh is 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:56.469 because he um you know numerous policies have created these um high prices and we can 00:04:56.479 --> 00:05:06.230 go into that but but uh it it's simply an assuagement to the consumer or or it to to appear to the consumer I'm doing something. You know, I'm I'm reminded a 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:15.510 long time ago, I had this congressman and um and we we had a we had an issue and he put in this legislation. I said, "We don't need it. You know, don't 00:05:15.520 --> 00:05:23.563 worry. It's all going to, you know, take care of itself real quick. You know, just in three or four months, it's all going to take care." He said, "Well, the people expect me to do something. 00:05:23.573 --> 00:05:33.110 [laughter] The people expect me to do something, you know, and um and and that's unfortunate. It it's it's the most disempowering thing in a country 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:41.909 when the um when the first uh the first uh idea for any societal problem or 00:05:41.919 --> 00:05:50.230 issue or malady is a government solution. >> We can actually solve a lot of this ourselves, >> right? >> We don't need we don't need the other 00:05:50.240 --> 00:06:00.710 stuff. Well, um talk while we're talking about government, let's transition to the new announcement which is uh has given a lot of us optimism. A lot of 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:09.189 friends of yours and mine and farmers as well >> uh are excited about this new announcement that they say that where he 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:18.710 says he's going to make it easier for American farmers. >> Yeah, I actually uh printed this off um so that I would have it. Uh the 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:26.870 announcement is um you know to to u and it um we've got to help ranchers 00:06:26.880 --> 00:06:35.909 produce the highest quality, most incredible beef in the world and as a matter of national security. Boy, we've heard that. I mean, he just made glyphosate an item of national security. 00:06:35.919 --> 00:06:45.749 Now we got beef an item of national security. I think I think uh our farm's chicken pot pie should be national security. What a great branding thing. >> I think I think you're vulnerable here. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:53.830 I don't see a lot of glyphosate on this field. >> No, there's not much. >> You're compromising our national security, Joel, by raising these cattle without glyphosate. 00:06:53.840 --> 00:07:03.990 >> That's right. That's a that's a shame. So, um, so yeah, the the the the Twitter sphere and and the social media is really lit up with this idea that, oh, 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:12.629 um, you know, we want we want farmers to be able or ranchers to be able to um process more of their own beef or or, you know, for for their for their own 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:22.550 for their the announcement that we saw from the president, you've got Brook Rollins's announcement. the announcement from the president uh says that he's 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:31.990 going to allow farmers, ranchers to process their own meat. We can already do that, can't we? >> Absolutely. That's that's the big thing. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:40.150 If you want to um butcher a, you know, if I wanted to put one of these down here in the field and butcher it and and fabricate it and turn it into ribe eyes 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:49.430 and t-bone steaks, there's no law in the world that says I can't do that. And you could sell one of these to me right now and I could scan it out right here. >> You could do it right here. Absolutely. 00:07:49.440 --> 00:08:00.469 >> As long as it's mine and it's alive when I >> as long as it's sold live, it's all okay. But as soon as it's not live, then suddenly it becomes meat. And meat 00:08:00.479 --> 00:08:09.749 enters into this quagmire, this labyrinth of uh of government control. So Brook Rollins has now interpreted the announcement. I I think that's fair to 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:19.189 say. And >> that's our a secretary. >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Brooke Rollins. And um, so here's 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:27.749 the here's the here's her interpretation of the executive order. And, um, I think we could all benefit from your 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:35.990 interpretation of of uh, of government speak and experience as to what some of these things mean. For example, waving 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:44.149 red tape in processing. Waving red tape in processing. It's a pretty nebulous thing. >> Yeah. And 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:54.070 >> and you were telling me >> maybe they'll make it easier for somebody to apply for a USDA permit maybe. >> Yeah. Yeah. That that's 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:02.949 into the industrial meat complex. >> Right. >> Right. Um uh it'll be uh they'll try to streamline if you want to if you want to 00:09:02.959 --> 00:09:12.310 build a $5 million plant um or Well, it just says braving red tape and processing. So if Tyson if Tyson wants 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:21.269 to add a another enterprise over here, well, it'll be expedited. The thing that we both understand here 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:30.150 is when this in the room where this stuff gets uh cooked, 00:09:30.160 --> 00:09:39.829 the chef is going to be the big four. >> Correct. Tyson JBS National uh beef. 00:09:39.839 --> 00:09:51.430 >> Yeah, I saw in there in her announcement she says that they are going to update their guidance. Uh and then also more truth in labeling. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:59.990 >> I can because I've served in DC, I can tell you a few things. Number one, there's more lobbyists at the executive branch than there is in Congress because 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:08.630 the Congress has become sort of a vestigial organ of government. Oh. Uhhuh. >> We write strongly worded letters to the administration and then they heat their 00:10:08.640 --> 00:10:17.670 buildings with these letters. U and so the lobbyists know that they'll put a lot of pressure on the committee. Hey there. 00:10:17.680 --> 00:10:26.389 >> Don't have anything for you. [laughter] >> She just wants a rub. >> Yeah. Good old number 48. [laughter] 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:37.509 >> Yeah. >> I trust these are not RFID tags. They're not RFID tags, which is another thing that Brooke is talking about. She says um adding technology for faster safety 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:45.670 data >> interpretation. This could be that could be mandatory radio frequency um identification tags, 00:10:45.680 --> 00:10:55.030 >> right? We because they're saying that will make it safer because right >> they could trace these back to a farm or something. The easiest way to do that is to buy your beef from the farm and then 00:10:55.040 --> 00:11:04.310 you know where it came from. Right now, one McDonald's hamburger has pieces of 600 animals in it. One McDonald's burger has pieces of 600 animals in it. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:12.710 >> Are they all cattle? >> Yeah. [laughter] >> I don't know. Let's just assume that they are. But species Okay. [laughter] 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:23.509 >> When you when you get a a pound of ground beef from somebody like us, right, >> you know, from your local um it it's from one animal. >> Correct. Yeah. So, so 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:31.750 >> back to so when they write these rules, here's here's the deal. There's no way in the world they're not going to let the big four processors in that room, >> right? 00:11:31.760 --> 00:11:39.829 >> They've they've paid their money. In fact, JBS, which is the Brazilian meat packer that specifically, they do beef. 00:11:39.839 --> 00:11:49.509 Some of these are more focused on chicken or pork, but JBS is a big beef processor. Big beef. >> They were also the biggest donor to the inauguration for to President Trump's 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:58.790 inauguration. >> Wow. So, uh, you know, they might not have invested in the campaign early enough. Who knows? Maybe they bet on Camala and they lost. So, then they had to make a 00:11:58.800 --> 00:12:06.870 >> rear. They they probably did both of them. That's what they usually do. They do both of them and then all the bases are covered >> and then and then they save a check for 00:12:06.880 --> 00:12:16.310 whoever wins for the inauguration. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, JBS was a big donor to the inauguration. You can be sure when they're writing those rules, they're going to let JBS in the room. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:24.389 >> Yes. Yes. every time I've been in these uh in these kinds of hearings um certainly on the state level and I'm I'm 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:33.750 it's exactly the same at the national level. It's um it's incestuous how these big corporations I mean you go into the hearing I'm thinking of some enrichment 00:12:33.760 --> 00:12:41.829 I've been in and you go into the hearing on poultry or something and we farmers we're all sitting here in the audience 00:12:41.839 --> 00:12:50.230 you know people that are going to testify at the hearing and here are the elected politicians up around their big mahogany table and sitting with them is 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:59.509 the Virginia Poultry Federation the Corn Growers Association >> it's it's it's it's so incestuous it's it defies imagination. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:07.829 >> Well, as we would say, the unmititigated Gaul. >> Well, well, we're talking about money and the money that they put into DC so that they have that chair reserved for 00:13:07.839 --> 00:13:16.230 them at that board seat when they're passing around the proposed regulations and the new >> compliance uh you know, vehicles. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:26.304 >> Um what about money? Do we, you know, we talked about earlier the soybean farmers got 12 billion. Is that what the the cattlemen need? Do they need some money? 00:13:26.314 --> 00:13:34.550 [laughter] And the processors because it one of the announcements here is there's more there's going to be more money. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Uh for for process 00:13:34.560 --> 00:13:45.750 >> for things. Yeah. For things. So So my frustration with um uh with these things is it's like um it's like there there 00:13:45.760 --> 00:13:54.470 you know there there were buckets of money over here. We're putting money buckets of money in that old regime or those old those old bad guys, you know, whatever party they're from. a bad guy. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:02.790 Now, we're in [clears throat] we got a new set of buckets. We're going to put the money in these buckets, >> right? >> And I'm saying we don't need any 00:14:02.800 --> 00:14:11.750 buckets. You know, I just did a I just did a fascinating um uh panel discussion a couple weeks ago with four um I'll 00:14:11.760 --> 00:14:22.069 call them gurus in the in in the I'll just say the clean food movement, okay? Non-industrial clean food movement. And I asked them my first question, opening 00:14:22.079 --> 00:14:32.150 question was what's what's the weak link? What's the hurdle in better food, you know, uh more more affordable, better available, you know, name your 00:14:32.160 --> 00:14:42.470 name your thing. Not a one of them said money. They all said regulations that that keep a farmer. I can't birth a 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:51.750 calf here. Just so everybody understands, I can I can't birth a calf here, raise it here, 00:14:51.760 --> 00:15:02.230 and if a neighbor or somebody at church says, "Hey, um, I want to come over and get a ribeye steak from you." I can't 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:12.150 butcher that animal and carve out a ribeye steak and sell it to anyone. The only way that anyone in this county can 00:15:12.160 --> 00:15:20.629 get a ribeye steak from the cow that I was born here and raised here is for me to put that animal on a trailer, send them up the interstate to a federal 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:30.470 inspected processing facility an hour away, let other people process it, bring and then and a couple weeks later 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:39.030 go back up, bring it back here to the farm with a with a label on it. Now my neighbor can walk across the fence and 00:15:39.040 --> 00:15:49.749 buy a ribeye steak from me. Thank you very much. >> Well, there there are 3,000 counties in the United States roughly and in most counties it is impossible to sell a 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:59.269 hamburger from an animal in that county without going to another county because there are very few >> there USDA facilities. >> More counties don't have a facility than 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:07.749 do have a facility. >> Right. But they but they still have some of these other facilities. Custom slaughter houses. >> Custom small. Yeah. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:16.389 >> Yeah. Where if it's your animal, if you own it, so your neighbor could buy one of these if they've got the money. >> Yeah. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:24.790 >> And >> and a freezer. >> And a freezer and a guarantee from the electric company. The electric will never go out, which nobody can get one of those. 00:16:24.800 --> 00:16:33.430 >> Yeah. >> Uh they can, you know, do it. And that's that's why we're kind of uh suspicious about the announcement that says we're going to let you process your own 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:42.150 because you can already process your own. >> You can already process your own. You just can't sell it, >> right? >> You just can't sell it. >> And that's what we need. >> And and and when when Bernie Sanders 00:16:42.160 --> 00:16:50.550 runs around saying, "We got to stop the oligarchy. Got to stop the oligarchy." Of course, he's exactly right. But the answer is not antirust suits through the 00:16:50.560 --> 00:17:00.310 Federal Trade Commission or whatever. The answer is allowing farmers like us to be able to take an animal, process it on site, sell it to our neighbors one- 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:09.110 on-one. You know, if you're a um if as two consenting adults wanting to exercise freedom of food choice, we 00:17:09.120 --> 00:17:20.150 should be able to engage in a food transaction without asking a bureaucrat's permission. >> Correct? >> I mean, that's about as simple as I know how to make it. And um and you know if 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:29.029 if if Trump really wanted to help help systemically, he would get behind the prime act. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:38.870 >> Well, let's let's >> and say let's let let's get the Prime Act on the books. You know, we we don't need all this, you know, hocus pocus uh grants and and all that stuff. No, what 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:47.270 we need is freedom. We need to solve these problems with freedom. >> Yeah. So, let's talk about the Prime Act. >> Okay. Uh uh the late Senator Frank 00:17:47.280 --> 00:17:56.310 Nicely from Tennessee, state senator, and I came up with this idea on your farm in 2015 on a hay wagon on a different part of the farm. We were 00:17:56.320 --> 00:18:05.270 lamenting that the federal government had just repealed mandatory country of origin labeling for beef and pork. And we said, well, so how are we going to 00:18:05.280 --> 00:18:14.870 fill this void? Well, this could be an opportunity for American farmers if we empower them >> with the ability to have local processing. So the prime act stands for 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:26.310 every bill in DC's got to have some cute acronym, right? >> Americans can't talk in multi-elabic words. We have to have acronyms to talk in >> the processor revival intrastate meat 00:18:26.320 --> 00:18:34.390 exemption. And so what it's very simple, by the way, Shelley Pingri, a Democrat. This is not one of those red versus blue. So they're not going to have you 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:43.430 on CNN or Fox to talk about it >> because it's Republican and a Democrat working together. But Shelley Pingri and I finalized this legislation and 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:51.510 introduced it. And it's very simple, too. It just says if the farmer and the processor and the consumer all live in 00:18:51.520 --> 00:19:00.470 the same state, >> you don't need the federal government's permission to to have that transaction to have the meat processed. Does it mean 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:09.590 there'll be no regulations? No. You could regulate this with county level health inspectors. I mean, there are restaurants that sell more beef in a 00:19:09.600 --> 00:19:18.789 night in a night and cut it up even than most of these small processors do. And how what's the regimen for their inspections? It's an inspector who comes 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:27.190 in, a local inspector, so you know who they are, right? >> And they give it a grade, put it on the wall, and the consumer knows, do I want to eat here or do I not want to eat 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:35.909 here? You could have that level of or a state level inspector. Uh but the federal government doesn't even have the 00:19:35.919 --> 00:19:45.270 constitutional authority really to be involved in that transition. >> Well, that's why that's why the New Hampshire law was so important was because New Hampshire just tried to to 00:19:45.280 --> 00:19:55.110 actually do this uh basically thumb their nose at the feds and say we're going to do this in New Hampshire and um and the governor vetoed it and then they 00:19:55.120 --> 00:20:04.789 couldn't get enough votes to override and the whole idea was to uh [laughter] She was the salt off my uh 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:13.029 >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's >> There you go. >> Now you want me to rub your eyes. >> Sweaty enough for you, huh? >> How we doing? [laughter] 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:21.190 >> So So uh the whole idea there, >> let's see, you've you've got Hold on. You got steers and heers in here. >> No bulls, right? 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:29.669 >> No bulls. No bulls in here. No, >> no, no BS in this field. >> No, no, no, [laughter] no, no BS here. Yeah. >> All right. So the whole idea was to 00:20:29.679 --> 00:20:40.149 actually uh create legislation that could that could actually go to the Supreme Court to show that the application of the federal the federal 00:20:40.159 --> 00:20:48.630 regulatory uh intervention in the in instate sales within the state is unconstitutional. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:57.750 >> But it didn't get passed. It'll come it'll come up next year, right? >> And and hopefully it it'll get challenged. >> They had to the the governor vetoed it. They they were going to try and do a 00:20:57.760 --> 00:21:07.669 override. >> They tried to override. They came back to session and they couldn't get the votes to override. >> Just a few votes short there. >> Just just some short. Yeah. >> Well, that's what it's going to take, I think. Yeah. We may have to settle this. 00:21:07.679 --> 00:21:15.750 These cows I think they smell my cows on me, right? Like when you go to somebody else's house and they have dogs. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> They want to know what's what are you 00:21:15.760 --> 00:21:24.230 bringing with you? Yeah. What are you bringing? >> I think this one smells my cows on me. [laughter] Uh so uh anyways so let me 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:33.510 talk about where we're at with the prime act. Uh we have I I convinced the chairman of the ad committee to put a pilot program for the 00:21:33.520 --> 00:21:42.470 >> excuse me >> for the prime act in the uh farm bill. >> Imagine that relevant legislation to farming in a farm bill. Right. Yeah. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:52.470 It's not a subsidy. This uh >> that doesn't cost any money. >> No money. All it does is say if you if the state wants to do this, 00:21:52.480 --> 00:22:01.909 >> correct, >> the federal will stand down. >> Correct. >> That's that's basically all it says. >> It doesn't force anything on the states. >> The states can elect not to do it. They can keep the federal regime. They can 00:22:01.919 --> 00:22:13.029 keep their their state regime. Whatever it is they want to do. >> There's no nutrition in this shirt. I know it's natural, you know, fiber, 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:23.190 but anyways, uh, you got the friendliest cows, man. I feel so bad when when number 0406 goes 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:32.549 to freezer camp. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Uh, we got to speak gently around them, right? >> Well, docel docel animals make really tender beef. [laughter] 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:41.830 >> Flighty animals, they're kind of stressed, you know, but docsel animals make make better beef. Um, so anyways, we got this. We got a pilot program for it in the House Farm Bill. 00:22:41.840 --> 00:22:50.310 >> Yeah. >> And the Senate has a version that's not in they have a farm bill that doesn't have this in it. So, one thing people can do if you're watching this video and 00:22:50.320 --> 00:22:59.270 you you like what Trump said about making things easier on small farmers, but you understand there's only so much he can do. He can't change the law. 00:22:59.280 --> 00:23:08.789 Brook Rollins can't change the law, right? the Congress needs to change the law to enable this and more so >> to make it permanent because there's two 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:18.470 years left on Trump's term if he if he and Brook Rollins could do something >> and maybe there will be something good that comes out Monday, >> but if they could do something, it only 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:28.230 has the statutory authority to the end of their their term >> terms which both end in two years. All right, I'll pay some attention to you. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:38.230 >> You [laughter] you you can you can smack her if you need to. Well, I I don't want to do it [laughter] here. Um, so anyways, [laughter] we got 00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:49.909 to get the primac passed. I would I would prefer. >> And to me, all all of this stuff, all of this is just is just um clever speak, 00:23:49.919 --> 00:24:00.390 >> right? >> It's just clever speak. It doesn't really attack It doesn't really attack the um a solution or a or an issue that 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:09.590 would actually uh geranely help the farmer uh long term, 00:24:09.600 --> 00:24:18.470 >> right? >> It it's it's a it's just a a finger to the wind. Oh, okay. um you know, we'll we're we we're going to do we're going 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:29.029 to try to do something to you know, to garner some consumer votes and and u you know, here we go. >> So, uh >> well, and and so let me >> and it'll all be interpreted and written 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:37.990 with the eyes and ears of the big four, right? >> Right there at the table. >> Um and speaking of short-term versus long-term, the Prime Act doesn't fix 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:47.909 things immediately, right? Everybody's looking for a quick solution. Yeah. What it does is if it goes into law, this is the other thing about having a law instead of an executive order. 00:24:47.919 --> 00:24:57.350 >> A a processor is not going to sprout up out of the ground with a million dollar investment be on some based on some executive order that could go away 00:24:57.360 --> 00:25:06.230 tomorrow and is certainly going away in two years. Unless the next president is as benevolent as this one and that the and the meat processors, the the big 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:15.830 four don't have their way. You got to have some kind of law in there for the farmer who also likely doesn't have the capital, right? But they can get it. 00:25:15.840 --> 00:25:24.950 They're not asking the government for money. They can go to a bank and get this. They can go to investors and get this. >> Uh if they got a business plan that works, but for the business plan to 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:33.190 work, the investors want to know what's your long-term plan. >> What's what's what's the what's the risk longevity? >> Correct. >> What's the risk longevity? And you can't 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:41.750 you can't go and invest something that might be gone in a year. you you just can't. That's the reality. So, you got to be able to have something dependable. 00:25:41.760 --> 00:25:50.390 You got to have some sort of a dependability to to get an investor. And um if if this were to happen to where um 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:59.830 thousands of neighborhood abattoars, that's the that's the nice French word for a slaughter house. if if thousands of neighborhood abattoars 00:25:59.840 --> 00:26:09.830 um or at least hundreds, maybe a thousand would spring up around the country. Um you I just posed this question in 2020 when all the 00:26:09.840 --> 00:26:20.870 supermarket shelves went empty. Does anybody think that we would have had less of a hiccup in 2020 on on food had 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:29.430 America instead of being fed by, you know, 300 mega processing facilities, you know, caneries and and and slaughter 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:38.549 houses and chicken processing plants and stuff. If instead of being fed by 300 mega processing facilities, if it instead had been fed by 300,000 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:46.870 neighborhood >> Yeah. little uh neighborhood friendly businesses, would we have had a big as big a hiccup? Of course we wouldn't. Of 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:55.350 course we wouldn't. >> Go back and look at co the the places hardest hit were nursing homes, cruise ships and processing plants >> and processing plants. >> And so 00:26:55.360 --> 00:27:04.549 >> 5,000 people in a in a dark, moist, cool environment. Very very hard hit. You couldn't have asked for a better 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:13.990 climate. >> It's literally a giant nasal. >> It is. It is. It's a huge petri dish. It's a huge petri dish. >> So, but and then the other thing you have, you see these fires in these 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:23.830 processing plants that causes the price to go up to consumers with no benefit to the cattlemen who are raising the cattle. Uh there was a point where one 00:27:23.840 --> 00:27:32.149 of the big four got hacked, their computers got hacked, their computers went down. I can tell you my local custom shop does not have this problem. 00:27:32.159 --> 00:27:41.669 >> His he has a human computer. He fills out one of those carbon copy pieces of paper. How do you want to >> Yeah. You know, the hamburger, the roast order sheet, handwritten. Uh, 00:27:41.679 --> 00:27:51.830 >> do you want the liver back? Yeah. Checklist. That's right. >> Those the little guys don't get shut down by hacking. The big guys can and have. You got all the That's national 00:27:51.840 --> 00:28:00.630 security, right? Distributed food system. >> In times of disturbance and disruption, you know, if you're on uh uh rocky rocky 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:09.430 uh shores in disruption, you don't want to be in an aircraft carrier. You want to be in a little speedboat, >> right? [laughter] you know, um, you know, there's a there's a business book 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:18.549 out. It's not the big that eats the it's not the big that eats the small, it's the fast that eat the slow. >> And and the smaller you are, the more 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:26.950 adaptable, the more the more you can pivot to um to work with a certain a new context. And um and and that's where we 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:35.909 are. I mean, uh, th right now, just to, you know, bring up the camera a little bit, um, from what I can tell and what I 00:28:35.919 --> 00:28:44.710 read, this is the first time a major commodity beef has increased this much in price 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:54.310 without market uh, fleeing away without without a market drop. Well, why? Well, because we've got Maja inverting the food 00:28:54.320 --> 00:29:04.710 pyramid to put protein on the bottom instead of Cracker Jacks and uh and and Twinkies. So, we've got a we've got a basically a 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:14.310 new national understanding. If you want to be healthy, you don't eat Oreo cookies. You eat I mean I mean as your main stay, right? You eat protein. I'm 00:29:14.320 --> 00:29:26.149 not trying to disc Oreo cookies, but um >> but as your main stay. Uh secondly, we've got this whole dietary thing, you know, uh carnivore, keto, um uh and and 00:29:26.159 --> 00:29:36.070 and those are uh people are finding are finding solutions to their health uh situation by by switching to uh protein, 00:29:36.080 --> 00:29:45.909 especially beef. And so we have these these cultural responses to the health crisis that's driving beef sales at a 00:29:45.919 --> 00:29:55.110 very time when beef farmers are old. They don't want to start. Land prices are especially high. 00:29:55.120 --> 00:30:03.510 >> Brood cow inventory is low. >> Brood cows inventory is low. All these things and and so there's this this confluence of things. Some were 00:30:03.520 --> 00:30:11.669 predictable, some weren't. And of course, you had the drought in 2021, 2022, uh, in in the southern tier of the 00:30:11.679 --> 00:30:20.230 US that caused a lot of herds to be liquidated. And >> a lot of farmers didn't make it through COVID when they couldn't get their animals processed, right? 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:28.549 >> When uh they put dairy cattle in the beef supply because they couldn't package the milk for schools because the schools were shut down. So then dairy So 00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:37.350 then dairies downsized and dumped all those uh cull cows into the beef market which further suppressed uh or depressed >> there was there was yeah there was a 00:30:37.360 --> 00:30:46.230 six-year period from 2016 to 2022 where uh beef live animals were less than $2 a pound whether it was a calf that like 00:30:46.240 --> 00:30:55.110 the kind that I raise on my farm or whether it's one that's ready to go to slaughterhouse like the ones here >> and you can't make money for six years. So a lot of farmers got out of the 00:30:55.120 --> 00:31:07.110 business then. >> Right. Right. It it it jaest it jaundice the industry into thinking, well, there ain't no money here. And when you have an entire industry go into 00:31:07.120 --> 00:31:15.990 emotional funk mode, [laughter] it takes a while. It again, if these prices hold, we're already starting to 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:24.310 see some heer retention, >> which which which exacerbates the the shortage problem. Correct. Because now these heers aren't going to slaughter for a while. Yeah. For a couple years. 00:31:24.320 --> 00:31:33.110 So, so you know it will crash, but it has to stay it has to stay long enough to excite a new generation and a new a 00:31:33.120 --> 00:31:42.070 new wave of okay, I'll add 10 cows, I'll add 20 cows. I mean, we're seeing some people around here start to add, but it's slow and the and the cow, you know, 00:31:42.080 --> 00:31:51.990 a chicken, you get a you get a chicken and in eight weeks or six or eight weeks, you know, yeah, you the chicken's ready to eat. cow, you know. All right, 00:31:52.000 --> 00:32:00.310 I'll make a decision to save a heer and now in a year I uh I can breed her. 00:32:00.320 --> 00:32:08.389 In another year, she'll cave. In another two years, I can butcher her. Yeah, we're talking about a four or five year. It it's a long lag time. So, this this 00:32:08.399 --> 00:32:17.509 this slinky has a long a long lag time. of what they're doing now by importing this beef 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:26.310 >> and and a 90 a little 90day uh thing to to you know throw some whatever throw some bait at the dog for 00:32:26.320 --> 00:32:34.549 a day is just it's it's um not only does it not solve the problem 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:44.389 it it's simply clickbait >> yeah it's all it's just clickbait >> well we're going to find out Monday >> we will >> uh I'll put this video up tonight I'm 00:32:44.399 --> 00:32:53.029 get some angry comments. Uh, but I wanted to come see the one guy. You're you're one of my heroes. I don't have many and none of them are in Washington. 00:32:53.039 --> 00:33:04.230 Uh, you know what you're doing. You've been doing this on this land for over half a century. You were Maha before there was Maha. >> You'll be Maha after there's Maha. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:10.480 >> And uh, we appreciate what you do, Joel. >> Thank you. Thank you, Thomas. It's great.